Skip to main content

The Inventor

I have a bit left in "The Inventor," but I'm ready to say I love this movie. Highlights so far:

-A story is different from data. A good narrative has an emotional component. When you appeal to people's emotions, you can be very seductive. You don't need to point to numbers. Elizabeth Holmes was an extraordinary storyteller. She would trot out the tale of her uncle, dead too soon from cancer, and people would want to open their wallets for her.

-People find it easy to lie if they believe they're supporting a good cause. A thing I enjoyed was this: A certain economist had people roll dice. If you rolled, you would have to commit to choosing the top or bottom of your roll. ("It landed on a 2, but I'm committed to the top of the roll, a 5....so I get 5 dollars." "It landed on a 3, and I'm committed to the bottom of the roll, so I get 3 dollars.") People would freely lie if the difference was between 6 and 1, and then they would tell the truth if the difference was between 3 and 4 (and they were just losing 1 dollar). That bit of 3 vs. 4 truth-telling seemed to have a rationalizing, conscience-soothing quality.

A lie detector test would detect the lie. The machine would recognize a certain tension--between I want more money and I know it's wrong. But, if you told the subject, you're donating your money to a charity, then the lying would continue, and the lie detector test would stop working. Why? Because the conscience is at ease. I'm lying for a good cause, so it's not really lying. This is likely the kind of mentality that allowed Elizabeth Holmes to commit the brutal acts that she committed.

-Another item this documentary has (and it's an item that would have enriched "Bad Blood") is: the Thomas Edison story. Edison routinely lied. He inflated claims. He said he could deliver things he couldn't deliver. (He would fall years behind schedule.) So that's the kind of culture Elizabeth Holmes believed she was a part of. (She called her machine "the Edison.") The problem is that Edison's lightbulb lie didn't mean people would potentially die. Elizabeth Holmes's lies *did* put lives at stake. I love "The Inventor" because it has a Janet Malcolm-ish gift for getting us to look at old things in a new way. Thomas Edison? He couldn't be a huckster! But indeed he was. Bill Clinton? He can't have been duped by a wily nineteen year old! But: Think again.

I'd recommend "The Inventor"--even more ardently than "Bad Blood"--because it's full of drama and wonder, and also because it allows you to see, up-close, some of the good guys who were only brief, sketchy figures in "Bad Blood."
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel  Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in  Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's  Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...
3 comments
Read more

The Death of Bergoglio

  It's frustrating for me to hear Bergoglio described as "the less awful pope"--because awful is still awful. I think I get fixated on ideas of purity, which can be juvenile, but putting that aside, here are some things that Bergoglio could have done and did not. (I'm quoting from a survivor of sexual abuse at the hands of the Church.) He could levy the harshest penalty, excommunication, against a dozen or more of the most egregious abuse enabling church officials. (He's done this to no enablers, or predators for that matter.) He could insist that every diocese and religious order turn over every record they have about suspected and known abusers to law enforcement. Francis could order every prelate on the planet to post on his diocesan website the names of every proven, admitted and credibly accused child molesting cleric. (Imagine how much safer children would be if police, prosecutors, parents and the public knew the identities of these potentially dangerous me...
1 comment
Read more

Raymond Carver: "What's in Alaska?"

Outside, Mary held Jack's arm and walked with her head down. They moved slowly on the sidewalk. He listened to the scuffing sounds her shoes made. He heard the sharp and separate sound of a dog barking and above that a murmuring of very distant traffic.  She raised her head. "When we get home, Jack, I want to be fucked, talked to, diverted. Divert me, Jack. I need to be diverted tonight." She tightened her hold on his arm. He could feel the dampness in that shoe. He unlocked the door and flipped the light. "Come to bed," she said. "I'm coming," he said. He went to the kitchen and drank two glasses of water. He turned off the living-room light and felt his way along the wall into the bedroom. "Jack!" she yelled. "Jack!" "Jesus Christ, it's me!" he said. "I'm trying to get the light on." He found the lamp, and she sat up in bed. Her eyes were bright. He pulled the stem on the alarm and b...
1 comment
Read more